Two responses...predator/prey calls and commercially available night vision equipment. 
They can't hide in the night these days.
We're you expecting a different reply in pinging me?
Posted on 09/13/2025 9:10:11 AM PDT by EBH
The Day the Lone Wolf Myth Died
In the valley below my house, the coyotes call at night. Except, they aren’t just coyotes anymore, they’re hybrids, part wolf, part coyote, something harder to categorize and harder to fight. You rarely see the whole pack at once. More often, you hear them, a scatter of calls, laughter that isn’t quite laughter, an echo that makes you realize you are surrounded without ever seeing the circle close.
That’s how it feels watching society now. A few flashes here and there, a stray comment from a leader, a celebration of someone’s death online, an act of violence that shocks the headlines. But those are just the howls. The pack itself is much larger, and mostly hidden.
We tell ourselves these are lone actors, isolated incidents, the occasional bad apple. It’s easier that way. But what if they aren’t? What if the noise we hear is only a signal of something already embedded in the landscape; something hybrid, adaptive, thriving in the margins where we least expect it?
The Lone Wolf Myth
The lone wolf myth works because it’s easy. It lets us believe that radicalization is personal, not cultural. That safety can be restored by removing a single threat. In Western societies, we cling to this individualist framing as if ecosystems of grievance, ideology, and rhetoric don’t matter. As if violence never grows in clusters, networks, or cultures.
But myths break. And this one has been breaking for a while.
Look elsewhere in the world and the contrast is striking. In the Middle East, for example, we would never describe a suicide bomber or an armed militia fighter as a “lone wolf.” Analysts talk in terms of networks, cells, recruitment pipelines, grievances, and ideological ecosystems. They examine the social soil that produces extremists poverty, humiliation, propaganda, fractured governance and recognize that even if one attacker acts alone, he emerges from a collective climate that shaped his rage.
Here at home, though, we’ve resisted that framing. We call it aberrant psychology rather than cultural radicalization. We prefer the comfort of believing in “bad apples” rather than facing the orchard. But when assassinations, church shootings, and targeted killings come in waves, and when they are openly celebrated online and by public figures, the orchard can’t be ignored.
What we once studied in faraway conflicts is now echoing here, and pretending it’s otherwise is the most dangerous form of denial?
The Timeline of Howls
Butler, Pennsylvania (July 2024): A shooter grazes a former president at a rally, killing an attendee and wounding others.
Florida golf course (Sept 2024): Another rifleman takes aim during a quiet game.
New York City (Dec 2024): A Fortune 500 insurance CEO is gunned down outside his hotel.
Austin, Texas (Mar 2025): An alternative media figure is killed in his own neighborhood.
Minnesota (Jun 2025): State legislators and their families shot in what officials call a politically motivated attack.
Annunciation Catholic Church (Aug. 2025): Attack during school Mass, children killed/injured — ruled domestic terrorism & hate crime
Utah Valley (Sept 2025): A young activist is cut down mid-speech.
Different names. Different places. Different motives, at least on paper. And yet the rhythm repeats. Each time, the headlines trot out the lone wolf. Each time, the story shrinks the pattern down to one man and one gun.
But listen closely and the echoes line up. This isn’t one howl. It’s the valley alive with them.
The Mask Slips
For me, the breaking point wasn’t just the killings. It was the celebrations. Professors and teachers posting gleeful comments. A city council president sneering that the victim “wasn’t one of the good ones.” Bluesky threads filling with threats against the next names on the list.
This is when the lone wolf myth dies. Because when violence is no longer hidden, when it is cheered by officials and echoed in mainstream platforms, you’re not dealing with one unstable person anymore. You’re hearing the pack in the open.
Fairview Park City Council President Michael Kilbane’s Comment — A Clear Line Crossed
On social media, Kilbane wrote, “A lot of good people died today. Charlie Kirk wasn’t one of them.” That statement didn’t happen in the heat of campaign politics—it followed a tragic assassination of Kirk at a public event. https://www.cleveland19.com
Words matter—especially from elected officials. When someone in his position publicly names another man not “one of the good ones” after death, it's not just poor taste—it signals acceptance or validation of political violence, and normalizes cruelty. News 5 Cleveland WEWS
The outrage followed—and not just from your usual critics. Fellow city leaders, neighbors, and ordinary residents condemned his words. He eventually resigned as Council President. https://www.cleveland19.com
The Danger of Answering in Kind
Anger rises easily in moments like these. It feels like clarity. But anger is no more reasoned than grief or fear. History shows that once societies answer predator with predator, something irretrievable is lost.
Once the line is crossed, you don’t get to choose which part of yourself makes it back. The part that loves your family, values decency, wants to hand down a future worth living. That part is the first casualty when cruelty becomes the currency.
Coywolves thrive because they cross lines other animals won’t. Decent people underestimate that. Their strength, restraint, humanity, loyalty is also their weakness if they think it will protect them against a culture that revels in cruelty.
The Pack You Don’t See
Coywolves don’t need wilderness anymore. They survive in the margins, alongside us, in the gaps we leave unguarded. The same is true of radicalization. It no longer lives only on the edge. It’s in our councils, our schools, our media feeds. You don’t see the whole pack, but you hear the cackles from every direction.
The lone wolf myth died the day the celebrations grew louder than the mourning. The day the mask slipped and the slogans were no longer performance but belief. The day the pack stopped hiding.
And once you’ve heard them in the valley, you can’t pretend it’s just one lone wolf anymore. The hardest part isn’t hearing the howls. It’s realizing they mean it. That the laughter isn’t parody, but hunger. You don’t always see the pack at once, but once you recognize the pattern, you can’t unhear it. And that’s when the valley gets very quiet — because you know what comes next.
ping
A logical analysis of the threat America faces.
Good post!
It’s not a lone wolf when somewhere near 40% of the US approves of their actions.
These nerdy psychopaths are broken losers, not “Lone Wolves”, not a “Wolf”, there is no reason to describe a mangy flea-bitten diseased stray coyote as a “Wolf”.
👍👍👍 Thanks for sharing this.
Excellent...
Some still cling to the word “wolf,” as if these killers are rare, cunning predators. They’re not. They’re scavengers, feeding on grievances and lies. When nearly half the country shrugs or quietly approves, that’s not a lone animal anymore. That’s a pack, diseased but multiplying, and the myth of the lone wolf can no longer hold.
You should submit this for publication to Real Clear Politics or The Western Journal so it gets wider distribution.
Now it's interesting to note that Gavin Newsom is being quiet for the time being...
Usually he's very vocal.
No idea how to do that. LOL. I write here and occasionally on Medium
Best thing I have read anywhere about where we are today!
“A logical analysis of the threat America faces.”
An OK statement of the obvious. I didn’t see the suggestions on what to do about it.
Home Grown Brilliance!
.
Our current situation is
What Hell looks and Feels like.
.
Dark and surrounded by
Ravenous Animals.
Well written. You’re right. Are you a lone wolf when you attack, and a sizable population cheer you for it? One of the things I’ve been thinking about is what happens when some of these bastards go to trial? Take Luigi. I assume he’ll stand trial in NYC, which is about to elect a true-blue Communist Mayor. Does he get convicted? What happens if he doesn’t?
I went on Facebook just now. I rarely go there, but I wanted to see the Kirk reactions, amongst my Facebook friends. There were a few angry comments denouncing the leftist violence. None of my Democrat friends had anything to say. I’m not sure what happens next. My guess is, sooner or later, one of my Democrat relatives or friends close to me is going to say something stupid, because they’re not sorry this happened, and then I’ll have to decide what to do.
Two responses...predator/prey calls and commercially available night vision equipment.
They can't hide in the night these days.
We're you expecting a different reply in pinging me?
There is a grief in admitting this: once a culture begins to openly celebrate cruelty, you don’t get that part of society back. When neighbors laugh at assassination, when leaders cheer death, when strangers online chant “who’s next?” That segment has crossed into a place from which return is almost impossible. History is clear about this.
And yet, within every broken crowd, there are a few poor, sad souls who are not laughing, who are not cheering. They are caught up in the tide, but still aching for a way out. For them, there is still hope. But hope only works when the rest of us stop pretending the whole pack can be tamed.
Freerepublic Writers Guild
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Laz ping
That’s very powerful and TRUE! You need to spread this throughout all social media.
🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨
Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson lived with his transgender partner.
The individual is a biological male transitioning into a make-believe female.
He is fully cooperating with the FBI.
REPORT: @BrookeSingman— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) September 13, 2025
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